Can You Have Gratitude in the Midst of Grief? 10 Verses to Comfort the Grieving Heart this Holiday Season

The holidays can be very hard for people who are grieving. How can we still have gratitude in the midst of grief? Read on to find 10 Bible Verses to comfort and encourage a grieving heart.

The holidays are generally a joyful time. People expect to party; families hope to have fun. For many people, it’s like a month-long celebration, hopping from one social event to the next.

To others, it’s a time of longing for people they’ve lost.

This year, my family will be missing our matriarch. My grandmother passed away this week, and the thought of holidays without her ruby-red lips leaving kisses on all the kids is painful. Period.

It’s hard to imagine a world without her, but in the 40 years I was able to spend with her, she taught me a few things that will help.

She had joy, no matter what the circumstances surrounding her might have been. She was the life of every party, and if you had the audacity to be grumpy instead of grateful, she would sing, “Every party needs a pooper, and our party pooper’s you. Party pooper! Party Pooper!” If that didn’t work, she would look you straight in the eyes and say, “Put your lipstick on. You’ll feel better.”

This year, I know that she would want us to celebrate, not just her life but the holidays, too. She would want us to choose joy, to enjoy the family she loved so much and celebrate the Savior she trusted with her life.

When our hearts are hurting, however, we often can’t help but wonder “How?”

How can we still have gratitude in the midst of grief?

First, we can do like Grandma and rejoice in all circumstances. I think she’d join Paul in saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, ‘Rejoice!'”(Philippians 4:4)

It doesn’t always feel possible, but I don’t think Paul would tell us to do it if it were impossible. He knew we have a choice in the matter. We can always look for things to be thankful for, and usually, we’ll find them.

I am so thankful for the memories my grandmother made with us over the years. She doesn’t feel so far away when I hear myself quoting her to my kids. I’m sure I will cry as I put the cross in the kibbeh this year, but I will treasure the memories I have of cooking in her kitchen. When my sisters and I do our annual Christmas singing, I’ll think of how much fun she always had with her sisters, too, and imagine just what a celebration they’re having together now.

Because that’s the other thing I’m thankful for this year: the hope we have this holiday season. You see, I am grieving, but not without hope. My grandmother loved Jesus. She might have been a little torn between the Greek Orthodox Church of her youth and the Baptist church she’d been part of for decades, but she was clear about on thing: She loved the Lord.

Paul wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uniformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus though who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14)

Y’all, I don’t think Paul expects us not to grieve. He just doesn’t want us to grieve like those who have no hope. Because of Christ, we can agree with the poet John Donne, who wrote:

“Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”

I could stand up and shout “Amen!” every time I read that last line because death has been defeated. That’s the hope we have this holiday season. He is the resurrection and the life, and my grandmother knew it.

Still, losing ones we love hurts; our hearts break. Perhaps you are also hurting this holiday season. Could I offer you some words from THE Word that comfort and encourage me today?

10 Bible Verses to Comfort the Grieving

Psalm 34:18

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

John 14:1-3

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Matthew 5:4

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Psalm 119:49-50

“Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. My comfort in suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.”

Psalm 73:23-26

“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

John 11:25-26

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-57

“We will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 21:1-4

“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'”

John 6:37-40

“All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up in the last day.”

I appreciate your prayers for my family at this time, and I pray that if you are grieving this holiday season, God will comfort you with his love and give you peace from his promises.

I’d love for you to join us for Encouraging Word Wednesday this week! Just leave a link or two below and then visit another blogger and leave an encouraging comment!

Charlie, my heart goes out to you and your family as you remember your grandma this holiday season. Sadly, I know this pain too well, having grieved the loss of my father, brother and now my father-in-law whom we lost last month. It’s bittersweet for sure but I take comfort in knowing that we grieve with a fresh sense of hope in our Saviour.

Thank you for your wise words, which I’m pinning now to my Shining Through Grief board on Pinterest…that’s where I save all the posts that I know I can return to for a fresh serving of encouragement when I need it.
Blessings to you and yours!
Marva

This really hits home for me. I lost a brother just a few days before Christmas, 13 years ago. Always makes the holidays a bit harder. We can always find comfort in Jesus though. I am glad that he is in paradise with him!

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